The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Blue Heaven’. ‘Blue Heaven’ represents a new Bigleaf Hydrangea, a deciduous shrub grown for landscape use and for use as a potted plant.
‘Blue Heaven’ arose as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in June 2001 in De Kwakel, The Netherlands. ‘Blue Heaven’ was selected as a single unique plant from amongst 250 seedlings that were derived from sown in 1999 from numerous open pollinated cultivars of Hydrangea macrophylla. The seeds collected from open pollination were combined into one seed lot, therefore the parentage of ‘Blue Heaven’ is unknown.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by softwood stem cuttings in De Kwakel, The Netherlands in February 2002 by the inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.